Top Gun

COEUR d’ALENE —  From 50 feet away, with her .22-caliber bolt-action rifle, Daphne Garberoglio can put 19 of 20 shots into a quarter-sized bull’s-eye. 

And sometimes 20.

A closer look at the target reveals so many small holes they seem to be one larger one. 

“I’m pretty good,” the 17-year-old said.

The daughter of Andrew and Alicia Garberoglio is better than good. She’s among the best.

She’ll be competing at small-bore and possibly air rifle at the 2024 National Junior Olympic Championships for Rifle and Pistol at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., in April.

A lot is at stake.

“It’s huge,” Garberoglio said.

A long shot is the Paris Olympics. Maybe the 2028 Olympics. College scholarships. Sponsorships. Career opportunities. 

While it would be fair to assume the Post Falls teen has been shooting guns since toddlerhood, she only started two-and-a-half years ago.

“It’s crazy. It happened really fast,” Garberoglio said.

It wasn’t long before she displayed marksmanship after being introduced to the sport at the Coeur d’Alene Rifle and Pistol Club.

Her ability to clear her mind of distractions and zero in on a single goal helps.

“It’s a focus thing. It gives me something to focus on, something to put my energy into,” she said. “I like that it works on breathing, getting into a calm mindset to do it. It’s almost like meditation.”

Garberoglio qualified for the Junior Olympics by placing first in small bore in the Idaho Olympic Qualifying Championship in Bonners Ferry earlier this year.

Since, she’s ramped up her training. She shoots, performs drills and sights-in her rifle at least twice a week for up to six hours each time. 

She does all this while rescuing horses and working at the Salvation Army Kroc Center to earn money.

She also works out on a regular basis to build the strength and endurance it takes to hold the 10-pound Anschutz German rifle for matches that can run long.

“It’s a balancing act,” Garberoglio said. “You need your core for balance. You want to be as steady as possible.”

At the Junior Olympics, she’ll be scored on results from three shooting positions: standing, kneeling and prone.

To do well, she must remain calm and remember to breathe. 

"I’m still working on it," she said.

At times, she said she has to “turn off” her brain and simply focus, relax and squeeze the trigger.

“I feel solid,” the Post Falls teen said.

Her dad points out his daughter is using one of the club’s older 42-inch rifles that’s too big for her, which results in “compromised form.”

“It’s a big gun,” Daphne said.

In contrast, her state competition used rifles and scopes like something from "Star Wars" that cost twice as much as her $3,000 model.

“She competed with that while everybody else competed with this,” Andrew Garberoglio said.

Daphne said at the international level the gear has to meet International Shooting Sport Federal standards, which means she’ll need a new rifle, shooting jacket, shooting pants and shooting shoes. She’ll need ammunition as well.

Her short-term goals are to increase her shooting scores and earn a Gold Medal at the Junior Olympics. Long-term, she hopes to land an athletic scholarship, pursue a degree in youth developmental psychology and compete for America in the Summer Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles.

She is setting her sights high and hopes for a little financial help from the community. 

“I know that the road to success will be costly. By supporting me today, you are investing into something bigger than just a fundraiser. You're changing my life,” she wrote.

The family is raising money. To cut costs, mom might not make the trip to Colorado Springs to watch her daughter.

“I would rather her have all the equipment she needs and we don’t go,” Alicia Garberoglio said

Her father is not surprised at her success.

“Daphne is an exceptional human being. She excels at everything she puts her mind to,” he said.

Even dad admits daughter progressed faster than anyone expected.

“She just kind of outpaced us a little bit,” he said.

Andrew Garberoglio is a hunter, and while Daphne has tried hunting, her heart isn’t in it.

“I don’t like killing any animals,” she said. “I can’t do it,”

One of seven Garberoglio children, she is fiercely competitive, “in everything.” 

“I like to win,” she said.

To donate: makeachamp.com/daphnegarberoglio

    Daphne Garberoglio takes aim at the Coeur d'Alene Rifle and Pistol Club.
  

    Daphne Garberoglio with parents Andrew and Alicia Graberoglio.
  

    Daphne Garberoglio will be competing at the 2024 National Junior Olympic Championships for Rifle and Pistol in April.